Fla. House passes 'parent trigger' bill on schools

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida House on Thursday passed a bill to give parents a vote on turnaround options for failing public schools, despite a last-ditch effort to portray it as a backdoor measure to let for-profit companies take over public schools.

The “parent trigger” bill (HB 867), supported by all but seven Republicans, passed 68-51. The proposed law would give parents a say on how to deal with a failing school, with the actual voting done through a petition drive.

Florida Education Association President Andy Ford immediately criticized the bill’s passage as a gift to charter school companies. The teachers’ union and some parent groups have agitated against the measure.

“It’s all about creating an easy pathway so that for-profit charter operators can coerce parents to hand over our neighborhood public schools,” Ford said in a statement. “This doesn’t empower parents, it doesn’t provide better education for students, but it will line the pockets of the charter operators.”

Earlier in the hour-and-a-half long debate, the bill’s sponsor told opponents he was “glad that everybody read their union talking points.”

Though the measure is not about charter school-operators, “what is wrong with turning a profit?” asked Rep. Carlos Trujillo, the Miami Republican sponsoring the bill.

In any event, he said, “this debate is about a simple thing: Do you want to allow parents to have the opportunity to engage in a democracy, in the future of their own children?”

Kathleen Oropeza, co-founder of Orlando-based advocacy group FundEducationNow.org, said Trujillo is obscuring the issue: “We have nothing against capitalism, but we are against cannibalism.”

The bill would open the door to private charter school-companies using taxpayer-funded schools to make money, she said. “That sounds like corporate welfare to us.”

Rep. Ross Spano, a Dover Republican, told lawmakers the proposal “give(s) parents the opportunity to say what happens in perennially failing schools. Their children deserve it.”

But Rep. Mark Pafford, a West Palm Beach Democrat, said the bill wouldn’t be needed if Republicans had historically funded public education at higher levels.

“Don’t look back here,” he said. “For 16 years, this has been your gig, this is your party, and this is your failure. You’ve let the public education system slide away.”

The measure would apply only to schools that received an “F.” There are currently 25 schools rated as failing; Florida schools receive A through F letter grades based on how students perform on certain standardized tests.

But as House Democrats noted, under a new “Common Core” rating system starting in 2014-15, there could be close to 150.

The proposal allows parents to vote on one of several options through a petition drive, which could include putting a “plan of correction” into effect to fix the school. Another option is turning the failing school into a charter school, which could be managed by the school district, a nonprofit or a for-profit educational company. This option has upset most bill opponents.

The one that gets a simple majority — more than one-half of signatures — is the winner. The local school board may choose another option against parents’ wishes, but the State Board of Education can overrule it if that board prefers the parent’s choice.

But the plan also could pit parents against each other. The bill allows one option per petition, but allows multiple petitions for the different options. In that case, the petition with the most signatures wins.

It could even further make adversaries of some parents of the same child — it gives a half-vote each to divorced parents who share custody.

The idea is that parents will run the petition drives themselves. The bill provides that anybody gathering signatures, including parents, can’t offer payment, job offers or other “rewards” for signing a petition. Anyone who gathers signatures can’t be paid per signature and, “if asked, must disclose the organization he or she represents.”

It prohibits for-profit companies from gathering signatures or paying others to do so. The bill also tasks the school district with verifying parent signatures using “existing student enrollment documentation or other records containing parent signatures” and doesn’t require verification of notarized signatures.

A similar bill passed the House last year but died in the Senate on a tie vote. A companion bill (SB 862) is moving in the Senate. It’s next scheduled to be considered by that chamber’s Appropriations subcommittee on Education.

Senate President Don Gaetz said he’s in favor of the bill. He would not predict if there were enough votes to pass it this year, but noted that the more vocal opponents against it last year had left office.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

For those who believe the private sector has all the answers, I would remind them about BP/Deepwater Horizon-Transocean well blowout, Toyota's safety cover-up, the AIG debacle, and Carnival Cruise Lines' repeated issues.

I find it interesting that those attempting to continually overhaul education (read: legislators attempting to turn it into a market) seldom have a background in education, the art of teaching, the magic of a learning moment, or witnessing a student's potential being realized.

How does one quantify those things? It can't be done. Those things are priceless.

A free, public, secular education advances society. There is no reason to dismantle something that works so well.

long ago concluded that support for a free, public, secular education is too expensive for their budget. Of course the goals of living in a 3,000 square foot home with two or more big flat screen TV's and borrowing $15,000 to marry off their prize daughter or drive the newest version of transportation available becomes another story indeed.

I believe that most these failing schools are found in low income and crime driven neighborhoods so the school and its faculty can only work with students that want to learn that mostly are supported by their families, in most these neighborhoods this is not the case. These kids could care less about school and only look forward until the day they walk out the door (graduating or not) and never turn back. Teachers and other school staff can only work with who want to be worked with. Even though I dont like the idea of a public school buliding and facilities being turned over to private establishments, the fact is if a private group can come in and bring good education to some of those neighborhood kids that want to succeed, there by scholarship or sponsorship, then by all means provide good education. The graduation rates and succession level of private and charter schools dont lie and I dont see how people can argue with children getting a good education.

Parents who are truly concerned about their children's success at a failing school would entice other parents to attend SAC meetings, teacher conferences, and IEP meetings. Instead of carrying petitions, they would help inform fellow parents of the availability of tutoring, internet access, and the necessity of making children do homework.

Study after study shows that parental involvement is a stronger factor in an individual child's success (in education) than the actual school rating.